karatsu-imari

It's a good thing the days are getting longer.

By the time we reached Imari it was 17:00, the tourist information center was closed as well as many other places, but at least it was still light out.

We checked into the Central Hotel Imari...talk about a teeny hotel.

I kept hitting my elbow on the sink whenever I used the toilet...

Most hotels only allow you to use wifi in their lobbies, but, all the floors of this hotel had wifi, pretty impressive.

Since we still had a little more time before the sun set, we checked out the main street. This is where you'll find lots of Imari-yaki...the pottery of Imari.

Apparently Imari exports Arita-yaki (the pottery of Arita), so what is called Imari-yaki is actually Arita-yaki, confusing, yeah?!

Near our hotel we checked out a local sweets shop, Etoile Horie.

They make Imariyaki manju (a thin castella cake which envelops a rich egg paste), we loved this sweet.

We also tried their Koimari, a busse (sandwich) filled with fruit puree.

Their Tonbai Arita, a cake that is filled with dried fruit and nuts that is supposed to look like the walls in Arita.

And their Imari roll...a tea flavored cake filled with whipped cream.

For dinner, we decided to check out the restaurant next door to our hotel called Kira Hiiragi.

They started us off with a free appetizer...kujira (whale)...I've eaten this before when I studied in Japan, it was more "fishy" tasting this time around.

And then we ordered squid...it was still moving! (gasp!)

We also tried Imari beef in various forms...as roast beef salad,

lemon steak

and hamburger with a green onion sauce.

Oh the beef was so tender, talk about melt in your mouth.

We agreed that the food was good here.

After a long day, we headed back to the hotel to rest up.

The weather for the next couple of days was forecast for rain...stay tuned as to what happened next.

Central Hotel Imari
549-17 Shiten-cho
Imari, Saga
Phone: 0955.22.0880

Etoile Horie
475-19 Shiten-cho
Imari, Saga
Phone: 0955.23.1240

Kira Hiiragi
539 Shiten-cho
Imari, Saga
Phone: 0955.22.5790